Technology

Groupon Stock Dealt New Low After Q3 Results

Shares of online daily deal leader Groupon (GRPN) were down 27% early Friday, trading at a new all-time low below 3, after the company late Thursday reported weaker-than-expected Q3 sales and profit.

William Blair analyst Ralph Schackart early Friday lowered his rating on the stock to market perform, or hold, from outperform, though he wrote in a research note that "management is taking aggressive and positive strides to reposition the deals and goods business for successful growth .. ."

The company's international sales rose just 3.1% in Q3, compared with 80.5% growth in North America. Sales overall rose 32% to $568.6 million, less than the $590.1 million Wall Street had expected, according to Thomson Reuters.

The company missed its own guidance, which had called for sales of $580 million to $620 million.

In a conference call with analysts late Thursday, CEO Andrew Mason said the company has been restructuring its international business and plans to roll out new technology overseas that's worked in the U.S. He says the firm plans to start "deal personalization" in Europe, which is the weakest international market.

Sending highly personalized emails has worked in North America, the company has said before, and last quarter the company said it hoped to have deal personalization in place internationally by year's end.

"Internationally, fast growth and geographic expansion has led to execution issues which resulted in negative sequential growth in Q3," Mason told analysts.

Mason also said the company's future opportunity "comes from breaking out of the inbox" business of daily deals and putting more focus on other features, including e-commerce through Groupon Goods. That's basically an online store that has a small inventory of discounted products.